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Background

Dr. Richard Leigh is an Assistant Professor of Neurology who is devoted to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cerebrovascular disease. He is an attending on the inpatient stroke service and an integral part of the Brain Attack Team. He also provides consultations and follow-up care for cerebrovascular disease in the outpatient setting.

Dr. Richard Leigh was originally trained as a biomedical engineer at the Johns Hopkins University and subsequently went on to work at the National Institutes of Health where he developed brain imaging software. He then embarked on obtaining his medical degree from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in his home town of Cleveland, Ohio. He completed his medical internship and neurology residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center where he received the Distinguished House Staff Award and was selected to be Chief Resident of Neurology. Returning to Johns Hopkins, he then completed a stroke fellowship and subsequently joined the faculty of the cerebrovascular division.

Dr. Leigh currently sees patients at the Stroke Prevention Clinic, located in the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center in Baltimore on Wednesday afternoons, and cares for patients in The Johns Hopkins Hospitals Brain Rescue Unit.

Board Certifications

Research & Publications

Research Summary

Dr. Richard Leigh research interests are focused on using technology to improve our ability to diagnose and treat acute ischemic stroke. As a software developer and a vascular neurologist he is able to design and implement algorithms to address clinical challenges. His programs have focused on using MRI to quantify perfusion deficits, identify at-risk brain tissue, and detect damage to the blood-brain barrier. He offers expertise in the interpretation of multimodal MRI in the treatment and prevention of acute ischemic stroke.

Lab

Dr. Leigh is chief of the Neuro Vascular Brain Imaging Laboratory which aims to advance the understanding, treatment, and prevention of neurologic disease by developing, implementing and validating novel imaging techniques. Although the techniques developed are often applicable to a host of neurologic conditions, there is a particular focus on using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in vascular brain disease. Although our techniques are primarily aimed at the management of stroke, they are likely to have a broad impact, improving imaging of patients with brain tumors, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury.